Treiman, Rebecca, Brett Kessler & Tatiana Cury Pollo. 2006. Learning about the letter name subset of the vocabulary: Evidence from U.S. and Brazilian preschoolers. Applied Psycholinguistics 27(2). 211–227. doi:10.1017/S0142716406060255
Copyright Cambridge University Press.
To examine the factors that affect the learning of letter names, an important foundation for literacy, we asked 318 U.S. and 369 Brazilian preschoolers to identify each uppercase letter. Similarity of letter shape was the major determinant of confusion errors in both countries, and children were especially likely to interchange letters that were similar in shape as well as name. Errors were also affected by letter frequency, both general frequency and occurrence of letters in children’s own names. Differences in letter names and letter frequencies between English and Portuguese led to certain differences in the patterns of performance for children in the two countries. Other differences appeared to reflect U.S. children’s greater familiarity with the conventional order of the alphabet. Boys were overrepresented at the low end of the continuum of letter name knowledge, suggesting that some boys begin formal reading instruction lacking important foundational skills.
Shows number of trials in which each stimulus letter (i.e., presented letter) was wrongly identified as each other letter of the alphabet.
Mean similarity ratings between uppercase forms of letters.
Program for computing sex differences.
Treiman, R., Kessler, B., & Pollo, T. C. (2006). Learning about the letter name subset of the vocabulary: Evidence from U.S. and Brazilian preschoolers. Applied Psycholinguistics, 27, 211–227. doi:10.1017/S0142716406060255.